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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Desktops > Mac Pro product review ideas?

Mac Pro product review ideas?
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Mike Wuerthele
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May 2, 2013, 07:33 PM
 
Hey gang. I've got a 2010 and 2006 Mac Pro that I use for reviews here at MacNN. Are there any funky cards or accessories for the slab'o metal you want me to try and get for review?

Video cards are difficult to get, but I'll entertain any ideas.
     
reader50
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May 2, 2013, 11:08 PM
 
Dang. From the title, I thought this was to make up a list. Tests for the new retina MacPro6,1 just as soon as it arrives.

I do have an idea, but it would require some software hacking. To see if you could trick a current Mac Pro with a good GPU into running the retina routines on a 30" display. To force internal 2x rendering, then scale to physical display res. This would give us a jump on Apple's release schedule.

If you could pull it off, it would be interesting to a lot of current owners. Whether to go with a GPU upgrade instead of a new Mac Pro. Actually, such an article would be quite a scoop. We'd be linked to from Ars, Anandtech, Toms, and a host of others.
     
Mike Wuerthele  (op)
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May 3, 2013, 12:38 AM
 
Originally Posted by reader50 View Post
I do have an idea, but it would require some software hacking. To see if you could trick a current Mac Pro with a good GPU into running the retina routines on a 30" display. To force internal 2x rendering, then scale to physical display res. This would give us a jump on Apple's release schedule.

If you could pull it off, it would be interesting to a lot of current owners. Whether to go with a GPU upgrade instead of a new Mac Pro. Actually, such an article would be quite a scoop. We'd be linked to from Ars, Anandtech, Toms, and a host of others.
Hm. I don't personally have the chops for this, but I do have the hardware. Let me see what I can get figured out.
     
Mike Wuerthele  (op)
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May 7, 2013, 05:38 PM
 
     
nisse32
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May 8, 2013, 02:33 AM
 
The big disadvantage with the current MacPros is slow disk access due to slow SATA-connections. You canĀ“t utilize the full speed of SSDs if you connect to SATA.

You can solve this by using PCI. I know of two products: Mercury Accelsior_E2 and Apricorn Velocity Solo x2. There are others. It would be very interesting to see a review of these products to implement a Fusion Drive (for example combined with at WD 2 TB Black hd). Can this work as a meaningful upgrade for us "forgotten" MacPro users?
     
Waragainstsleep
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May 9, 2013, 04:48 AM
 
OWC do a bootable PCIe SSD now.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
     
Mike Wuerthele  (op)
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May 9, 2013, 03:22 PM
 
We've also reviewed a SATA-3 PCI-E card with two internal and two external ports. I'll start looking at it.
     
Mike Wuerthele  (op)
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May 19, 2013, 11:10 PM
 
     
Locutus27
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May 24, 2013, 09:29 PM
 
Originally Posted by EstaNightshift View Post
Hey gang. I've got a 2010 and 2006 Mac Pro that I use for reviews here at MacNN. Are there any funky cards or accessories for the slab'o metal you want me to try and get for review?

Video cards are difficult to get, but I'll entertain any ideas.
PCIe SATA 6GB Tempo SSD Pro review would be nice!
     
Mike Wuerthele  (op)
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May 26, 2013, 07:19 PM
 
Originally Posted by Locutus27 View Post
PCIe SATA 6GB Tempo SSD Pro review would be nice!
Okay, I'll go request one now.
     
angelmb
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May 28, 2013, 10:14 AM
 
The Intensity Pro PCIe card from Blackmagic Design. Should be interesting to see how it can handle HD video from popular gaming devices.

     
Mike Wuerthele  (op)
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May 28, 2013, 02:54 PM
 
Originally Posted by angelmb View Post
The Intensity Pro PCIe card from Blackmagic Design. Should be interesting to see how it can handle HD video from popular gaming devices.

I've used the predecessor to this card ages ago. I'll request one now!

We did a USB 2.0 breakout box a while ago that was tailored for gaming. Not bad, but it wasn't 1080p. The new model does the higher resolution.

Review - Hauppauge HD PVR 2 Gaming Edition Review | MacNN
     
angelmb
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May 29, 2013, 03:26 AM
 
Originally Posted by EstaNightshift View Post
I've used the predecessor to this card ages ago. I'll request one now!
Thank You Sir !!

It will be of most interest to know whether the Mac Pro 1,1 can use the HDMI ports on it. I've read somewhere they can't be used with a 1,1 which is a pity.
     
Mike Wuerthele  (op)
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May 29, 2013, 12:25 PM
 
Originally Posted by angelmb View Post
Thank You Sir !!

It will be of most interest to know whether the Mac Pro 1,1 can use the HDMI ports on it. I've read somewhere they can't be used with a 1,1 which is a pity.
We'll find out. One of our testers is a 1,1.
     
angelmb
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Jul 3, 2013, 02:27 AM
 
Any news on the Intensity Pro PCIe card review.?
     
P
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Jul 10, 2013, 05:15 AM
 
One idea: Get a USB 3.0 card and check if UAS works - or, in other words, a benchmark of various USB 3.0 drives on that card.

(UAS = USB Attached SCSI - an optional part of USB 3.0 that improves performance of storage devices over USB 3.0 by a lot. Supported in Mountain Lion and on many - but not all - modern external storage devices. It would be interesting to see how general that support is.)
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
     
Mike Wuerthele  (op)
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Jul 10, 2013, 12:23 PM
 
Originally Posted by P View Post
One idea: Get a USB 3.0 card and check if UAS works - or, in other words, a benchmark of various USB 3.0 drives on that card.

(UAS = USB Attached SCSI - an optional part of USB 3.0 that improves performance of storage devices over USB 3.0 by a lot. Supported in Mountain Lion and on many - but not all - modern external storage devices. It would be interesting to see how general that support is.)
While technically, UAS works on the Highpoint card we reviewed, it didn't show any significant gains on our tests over the other card we used to compare it to, but I only had a small handful of enclosures to test it on. I'll look further into it.

Any news on the Intensity Pro PCIe card review.?
Requested, but not received yet.
     
ionamartin123
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Jul 26, 2013, 05:46 AM
 
It is an slow disk process.The card is very strong.
     
   
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